London to Paris

 In the morning we found out that the Sun Devils won.  It was the first inaugural Union Jack Classic Game at Wembley Stadium.  46,523 people attended the game.  That may be why the traffic was so bad yesterday.  And yes, there were marching bands.

We had a check out snafu.  There had been a very complicated check in process.  I had to walk about a block away to where there was a lock box with a key inside of the lock box.  The lock box itself was attached to a metal fence with a key and fob.  I had instruction on how to get into it.  They did not give any instructions of what to do once I got the key.  By the end of our stay Kris and I were pretty good about managing getting into the building then the apartment.  I was told to put the key back in the lock box when we left.  Once we were downstairs we called an Uber and I walked to where the lock box had been!!! Operative words HAD BEEN.  It was gone.  But our Uber was almost at our location.  What to do?  I texted the owner.  No answer.  The only thing I could think of was to get the key back up to the apartment.  Kris scurried off to do that and I worked at contacting the owner.  I did manage to get in touch with one of the owners. She asked if I had reset the lock box.  Well, no.  That was not in any of the instructions.  I shut the place where the key had been.  But that was all I did.    She was not amused.  They had no extra key.  But we were in a hurry to get to the train station.  The whole lock box was stolen.  I offered to help pay for a replacement.  We shall see what they say.  But really they had a weird set up and they gave no instructions other than getting the key.  And why don't they have a spare set??? And how was the lock box stolen??

St Pancras International station.  We had hoped to get here in time to walk around and take pictures of the impressive building.  But that was not to be.

I downloaded this from Google.

We did get to the train station in time.  We were told to get there by 11:15 am for a 12:31pm departure.  We got there about 11:20 am. Not bad.  Checking in was more complicated for us than it had been for Sharon and Glenn 10 years ago.  Surprise, surprise!! We had to show our tickets and passport several times.  But I don't think that anyone checked that we were actually getting on the correct train. 

We bought our lunches from Pret a Manger in the station.

It was a nice 2 1/2 hour train ride to Paris.  I was a little disappointed with the chunnel.  We went though a couple on long tunnels before we went through the chunnel.  I don't know what I was expecting.  

Outside of London

Outside of Paris

We made it to Paris just fine.  There was a long line to wait for a taxi so we thought that we could walk out away from the train station and call an Uber.  We were unsuccessful in finding a good location to stand.  While we were looking we saw a taxi.  

Gare du Nord

Dragon in front of the station.

The Louvre

We got to the hotel Lenox Montparnasse just fine.

Jeanne's and my room, #47.  She will get here tomorrow. Sharon had #44 and Kris had #34.

View from my balcony

We are right across the street from the theater.  I hope that it will not be too noisy.

We went to a restaurant that Giselle had recommended., the Creperie Plougastel.  The whole street is full of creperies. 

I had a galette, rhymes with palette 

It was paired with a delicious cider.

Lemon crepe for dessert.

The difference between a galette and a crepe is that a galette is usually made out of buckwheat and is usually savory.  

We wandered around looking for somewhere that we would be able to go for breakfast. We found a couple of ideas.

My room is right above this room with the head.

Our hotel

 There was a 1 hour time change coming to France so we should not be tired, but somehow we were.  Maybe we will catch up on our sleep tonight.

We went to the bar and fixed ourselves some drinks.  It is on the honor system. We met another Rick Steves couple (Darlene & Steve).  They were from Kentucky.  

We had a few ideas for the morning.